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1. Videos – Pinch to Zoom

How many times have you watched a video and wished you could zoom in slightly to read something that was shown on the screen? Good news – you can do this using BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0! All you need is do is use the pinch to zoom in or out gesture while viewing videos.

2. Music – Peek Now Playing

One of the gestures I use a lot is the peek gesture since, as per the example in the screenshot below, it provides me with a quick way to change songs using the previous track, pause, or next track buttons. What if you need to find a specific song from the album or playlist you are currently listening to? All you need to do is tap on the album artwork instead, which will switch to the Music app and bring up the album or playlist you are listening to so you can quickly find the tune you wanted, or pick another album or playlist entirely.

3. Browser – Double tap to make Adobe® Flash® objects full screen

If a website has a video you want to watch or a game you want to play, double tap on it to make it full screen. When you want to go back to the website again, just swipe down from the top bezel. I use this tip when I watch cooking videos in the kitchen!

To help show what I mean again, the red X is where I am tapping on the screen. Here is a screenshot before double tapping on the red X:

After double tapping on the red X in the previous screenshot:

4. Camera and Video Options

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera that you can use to capture great pictures. The 3 megapixel front-facing camera is perfect for quickly taking a self-portrait or creating a profile picture. With that being said, when you tap the Camera icon on a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you’ll be presented with the following screen that contains several options. Something you’ll notice is that these options will fade away when they are not being used so you can view more of your screen. To get these options back, just tap on the screen.

To help explain these options, I’ve numbered them in the screenshot in red so you can see what they mean below:

Current Scene Mode – If you swipe down from the top bezel while using the camera, you’ll be able to set the scene mode to one of the following options: Auto, Sports Whiteboard (which is great for capturing images text on white backgrounds). In the screenshot, A denotes Auto has been selected.

Zoom Slider – Slide this toggle up and down to zoom in and out while you prepare to take a photo.

Geotag – This setting allows the camera to record geographical information of the location in which you take a photo. Tapping this icon will allow you toggle this feature on and off.

Camera/Video Camera Mode – Tapping this button will allow you to switch between the camera and video camera in case you want to shoot a video instead.

Camera Button – Tapping this button will snap a photo.

Switch Cameras – Since the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet includes two cameras, tapping this button allows you to switch between the front and rear-facing cameras

In addition to the onscreen controls, you also have the ability to access more options when using the Camera or Video Camera. All you need to do is swipe down from the top bezel while using the Camera or Video Camera, and you will have several more options displayed such as the ability to enable stabilization or change the ratio as well as access scene modes.

For example, in the event that a video you copied to your tablet cannot be opened, the first thing you should do is identify what codec the video file is using followed by reviewing the Supported Media Types on BlackBerry tablets reference guide. To identify a multimedia file’s codec, contact the person who created the file, or use a 3rd party application available online to identify this information.